LLM Question for 1-4-2012, and, THE LLM STUDY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, CHAPTER 3, PART 3 of 3

First the Question: The Galatians, like many Christians today, seemed to prefer to be servants, under The Law, than sons under Grace. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 1-1-2012

Question: The great purpose of The Law of Moses was to show the sinner just how great a sinner he was. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! According to Hebrews 7:19, the law made nothing perfect. Neither did the law make anything imperfect. The law left the sinner where it found him; imperfect by the law of sin and death. The great purpose of the law was to show the sinner how great a sinner he was. By the law is the knowledge of sin. By Adam is the entrance of sin. By the LORD Jesus Christ is the forgiveness of sins. By the thermometer is the knowledge of fever. The thermometer neither causes the fever nor cures it, but reveals to the patient just how sick he is. Now, out of the 714 responses we received to this question, 87.5% of you got it right. Praise the LORD! Therefore, now, let us take a look at,

THE LLM STUDY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, CHAPTER 3, PART 3 of 3

Nothing has brought more distraction, discomfort and doubt in the hearts of believers than the lack of understanding of the believer’s relation to the Law of Sinai.

Now we come to the question of Galatians 3:21, “IS THE LAW THEN AGAINST THE PROMISES OF GOD?”

And the answer is, certainly NOT. In Romans 5:20, Ro­mans 3:19, and Romans 7:13, we read the purpose of God’s law: that the offence might abound; that sin might be exceeding sinful; that all the world might become guilty before God. Ac­cording to Hebrews 7:19, the law made nothing perfect. Neither did the law make anything imperfect. The law left the sinner where it found him; imperfect by the law of sin and death. The great purpose of the law was to show the sinner how great a sinner he was. By the law is the knowledge of sin. By Adam is the entrance of sin. By the LORD Jesus Christ is the forgiveness of sins. By the thermometer is the knowledge of fever. The thermometer neither causes the fever nor cures it, but reveals to the patient just how sick he is.

Now referring to Galatians 3:24-25 which we quote, “WHEREFORE THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMAS­TER TO BRING US UNTO CHRIST, THAT WE MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH. BUT AFTER THAT FAITH IS COME, WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A SCHOOLMASTER.”

Here we learn that the Law was a child trainer to bring Israel to Christ; to make every sinner willing to be justified by Faith. Saul of Tarsus sought most zealously to be justified by the law. After he was brought into the light he preached this message found in Acts 13:38-39, “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” What wonderful truth we have here. “After that Faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”

There are some religious teachers who claim that Christians have been delivered from the ceremonial law but not from the moral law, that is, the Ten Commandments. But in Colossians 2:14, we are taught that the law which was taken out of the way was that which was contrary to us. That was not the ceremonial law; and neither was the cere­monial law Israel’s schoolmaster.

“FOR YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.” Galatians 3:26

The same truth is taught so clearly in John 1:12-13, which we quote, “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” When Christ was here on earth with some of His own people who would not accept Him as the Divine Redeemer, to them He said, “Ye are of your father the devil.” John 8:44. Then we have this truth expressed in 1 John 3:10, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” The LORD Himself, in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, taught that the tares were the children of the devil. Matthew 13:38. Thus we see that the Scripture does not teach the “Universal Fatherhood of God.” On the contrary we are taught in Ephesians 2:3 that the sinner by nature is the child of wrath. Faith in Jesus Christ is demanded for Divine sonship.

“FOR AS MANY OF YOU AS HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST HAVE PUT ON CHRIST.” Galatians 3:27

We have here the same truth as presented in Romans 6:3, which we quote, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” The believer, by Divine baptism NOT made with hands, is baptized into the death of Christ. He is also, the same moment, buried and raised with Christ. He is also seated with Him and in Him, by this same Divine baptism.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

The truth contained in this verse is also truth which was NEVER made known to Israel by any of their Prophets. Neither did Christ make it known while He was on earth. Let us study with this verse, Ephesians 2:12-16, which we quote, “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain ONE NEW MAN, so making peace; And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”

In the Old Testament Prophecies, many times God foretold the salvation of the Gentiles in connection with Israel’s NATIONAL deliverance. And in the coming age, the Gentiles, will be brought, by the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, to be blest with Israel and to be in subjection to them.

Now, there are teachers today who insist that the Body of Christ, mentioned in Ephesians 1:19-22, did not begin until after the close of the Book of Acts. They teach that members of the Church of God, from the day of Pentecost to Acts 28:31, were in subjection to Israel and had to follow Israel’s religious program. The Epistle to the Galatians is the refutation of this foolish argument. The very opposite is taught. The same truth concerning the “one new man,” in Ephesians 2:15, is taught concerning the “one in Christ Jesus,” in Galatians 3:28. But, OF COURSE, there is deeper and higher truth in Ephesians and Colossians AFTER the radical change expressed in Acts 28:25-28.

Because of the statement in Romans 15:27, that Gentiles have been made partakers of their (Israel’s) spiritual things, these deceived brethren argue that the Gentile Church members of the one Body of Romans 12:5 were “Israelitish Gentiles” (proselytes); whereas the Gentile members of the “Post Acts” Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:19-22; Ephesians 2:6, Ephesians 4:4), chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, had no obligation to Israel, and their spiritual blessings in the heavenlies were not on the grounds of any covenant which God made with or concerning Israel. “It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.” Romans 15:27. “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; So we, being many, are one Body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Romans 12:4-5.

They claim, (these deceived brethren), because of Romans 15:27, that the Body of Romans 12:4-5 is not the same Body of Ephesians. They endeavor to show a great difference between the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13) and the blood of (or in) the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 11:25.) According to their teaching, members of the Body of Christ, mentioned in Ephesians and Colossians, have nothing whatever to do with the New Covenant or the blood of the New Covenant. And inasmuch as the Apostle Paul, during the “Acts” period, acknowledged himself to be an able minister of the New Covenant (2 Cor. 3:6), with the close of the “Acts” period, Paul and other New Covenant saints were transferred from the “New Covenant Church” to the one Body of Ephesians 4:4, the joint-Body of Ephesians 2:6.

According to this teaching of “Two Bodies”, after the close of the Acts period, the LORD Jesus abdicated as Israel’s High Priest in the heavens and ascended “far above all heavens” (Ephesians 4:10) to be Head over all things to the Church which is His Body. (Ephesians 1:19-22). The Apostle Paul, during the Acts period, preached to Gentiles the Gospel of the uncircumcision and the ministry of reconciliation, something quite different from the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-35.

Now, inasmuch as the Greek of Ephesians 1:13 and Ephesians 2:8 is past tense, the teaching of these deceived brethren is shown to be unscriptural; because the Gentiles in the Body of Ephesians were brought nigh by the Blood of Christ even before the Apostle Paul declared himself to be a minister of the New Covenant. Note Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2:8 and Hebrews 2:16, “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel.”, and “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.”

The Apostle Paul went from childhood to manhood, from 1 Corinthians 13:11 to Ephesians 4, but he never changed his membership from an “Israelitish Body” to a “Gentile Body.” And inasmuch as all of the Bible was given to us through Israel, and our Saviour was the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of David; AND inasmuch as Christ’s blood was the blood of the New Covenant, every member of the Body of Christ is a partaker of Israel’s spiritual things. HOWEVER, and this is a BIG However, neither the Gentile saints of today NOR during the Gentile saints of the “Acts” period were instructed to carry on Israel’s religious program!

Signs CEASED after Acts 28:31, in accordance with 1 Corinthians 13:8, and therefore there was a radical change in God’s spiritual program for the Body of Christ as we learn by noting the absence of the words “signs”, “miracles”, “healing”, “tongues”, etc., in the Epistles of Paul written after Acts 28:31; but the change was NOT a different and new Body, but a signless program for the same Body. 1 Timothy 5:23, 2 Timothy 4:20.

At the time the Apostle Paul was an able minister of the New Covenant he was a minister of the reconciliation and a preacher of the glorious Gospel. 2 Cor. 5:19-21, 2 Cor. 4:3-4. The message of the new creation was concerning the believing sinner’s identification with the Risen Christ, cut off from Adam, and had nothing to do with the blessings which Israel is to enjoy under the guarantee of the New Coven­ant of Jeremiah 31:31-35. Neither does the justification of the Gentiles, foreseen in the Scriptures when God declared uncircumcised Abram righteous, have anything to do with Israel’s blessings in the New Covenant. Although foreseen in the Scriptures, The Mystery, of Galatians 3:8 was HID in God from before the foundation of the world. Again we would emphasize the importance of knowing the difference between Abram and Abraham, the blessing that came to believing Gentiles to whom the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel of the uncircumcision. The uncircumcision Gospel is not the New Covenant. Hence the fallacy of the teaching of a “New Covenant Acts Body” and, a different Body in Ephesians and Colossians

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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